Suitcase Full

I’m feeling more optimistic about our trip now.  Mostly because I went to Walmart on a Family Day and lived to tell about it.  If I can survive that, I can survive anything.

The other reason I feel better is that my suitcase is full of books.  Ten to be exact.  Ten books for nineteen days.  Hopefully that will be enough.  I took them out from the library on Saturday, and they’re due to be returned the day after I get back so I better not forget.  And I better not leave any of them in South America or I’ll have to take out a second mortgage to pay the late fees.

Books are really important to me.  I gotta have my stories.  Maybe reading stories about other people takes my mind off my own story for a little while.  Ever notice how hard it is to escape yourself?  A person is pretty much stuck in their own skin.  It’s kind of scary when you think about it.  Nothing but an endless horizon of me, me, me for forty five years.  Yikes!  No wonder I have a suitcase full of books.  I’ve got to stay sane somehow.

No man can be called friendless who has God and the companionship of good books.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning